Perkins School participates in annual Revels celebration

By Sarah Thomas, Town Correspondent

That sound you'll be hearing Thursday evening coming out of the Gothic-style Dwight Hall on the Perkins School campus - the one that sounds like you've been transported back in time to Merry Old England in the middle ages - won't be just any performance. It will be the ten-year anniversary of a unique collaboration between two very different organizations, one that makes the blind dance and the past come alive.

Celebration of the Spring, an annual collaboration between the Perkins School Secondary Program Chorus and Revels, a performing arts group dedicated to performing authentic traditional music and dance, will take place Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.

"This event is a real favorite of our Watertown neighbors," said Marilyn Rea Beyer, spokesman for the Perkins School. "For 180 years, Perkins has been known for its world-class music program. "There's such a feeling of celebration when the community joins us to celebrate the spring."

The program started 10 years ago, shortly after the Revels moved to Watertown from Cambridge. At that time, Perkins had been using a grant from the Sheldon Rothstein Trust to fund collaborative performances with different groups every year, but were looking for a permanent performing partner.

"At first, our approach was pretty straightforward," said George Emlen, Revels' music director. "We basically went to the school and put on a performance, with the choir backing us up. But we weren't really satisfied with that approach. We wanted it to be more of an ensemble performance, with the Perkins students fully integrated in every aspect."

Emlen discussed the issue with Arnie Harris, music director at Perkins, and the two came up with a solution.

"What they do is very clever," Harris said. "The revels performers divide up into small groups called families, and they adopt a few of our students and lead them through the performance. It allows our students to be fully active and engaged, participating in all the dances. It gets better every year."

This year the groups will be joined by the Mulberry Morris Children's Team, as well as vocal soloists and instrumentalists. Though the performance is only one night, it's not the last collaboration the two groups will have.

"One of our students, John Castillo, has become a regular member of the Revels, performing with them on a number of occasions," Harris said.

"John is great, and we've gotten so much out of working with Perkins," Emlen said. "It's really extraordinary how meaningful it is and how much it touches you."

Sarah Thomas can be reached at sarah.m.thomas@gmail.com.